4* WR Cornelius Johnson Announcing Dec. 19

Cornelius Johnson is a 6-foot-3 four-star WR from Connecticut - the No. 39 WR and No. 256 overall. He said on Twitter he's announcing Dec. 19 from a final five of Michigan, Alabama, Notre Dame, Penn State and Stanford. Nobody seems to think Bama is legit.

His crystal ballz were trending Stanford, but in recent days, Stanford has started looking at other WR options, so Sam Webb says they're probably out. Looks like a Michigan-Penn State battle, and Sam just said it's looking more promising for us by the day. Would be a nice Christmas gift.

Listened to ESPNU Radio this morning on Sirius and they had a recruiting guy on from ESPN. He seemed to think that Harrison ends up at Michigan. Said it could go either way, but looks to be Michigan at this point. Fingers crossed.

Perspective is not our forte in these parts, good Doctor. By spring I'm sure we'll all remember this and feel pretty good about our chances against most of the B1G. The huge question will remain can we beat OSU and I don't think anybody here will feel we can until we do.

But it's hard to feel like the other B1G teams are going to be a huge threat. PSUs on the downslope a bit in every aspect but recruiting, Wisconsin is ...Wisconsin. Sparty needs to find some offense again and doesn't look to be a huge threat to do so. We get everybody of consequence at home next year minus trips to PSU and Madison, which won't be easy but should be tractable. Bye weeks before Wisconsin and MSU.

Even with the Dax news, this is still a shot to be a damn good class if we add another 4-6 players like Johnson, Harrison, Keegan, etc..of the four and five star caliber. We likely will return most of our offense and have a top-caliber running back coming in to replace Karan. The defense will need to develop some guys but still will be a good unit.

Quite possible next year will come down yet again to beating ND and OSU. Won't argue with the fact that we need to do that to be elite and blah blah blah but all is far from lost.

And we need to beat ND and OSU next year, we really do. I'm not against holding Jim to the expectation of constant improvement.

But like you said, the class will still be top ten, and we can still win 11 games (for only the 10th time in program history) and potentially finish in the top 5. Our only losses were to an undefeated playoff team on the road and a team that just missed the playoff, also on the road. It was a good year after the nightmare that was last season.

Everything resets every year. This was a real lost opportunity in 2018, and it's OK for people to recognize that. But yes 10-2 with a chance to go 11-2 is a fantastic year. Fans need to recognize that as well.

Wiscy and PSU on the road, OSU/MSU/ND/Iowa at home is a brutal schedule. MSU will again have a great defense, which means they probably win 8 but can beat anyone on their schedule in a given week. Wiscy had injuries and can recover quickly. Iowa is always tough. PSU recruits to a level where they could be back in the Top 5/10 when we play them next year. If Patterson returns I love Michigan's team next year, but the rest of the B1G will still be a beast.

Ohmygosh every year with the brutal schedule bit. Next year's schedule is much more conducive to making the playoffs than this year's was. We have a bye before Wisconsin, we have a second bye before MSU. Penn State should have their worst team under Franklin next year - and they still have Franklin!!

Wisconsin loses their entire OL and will either start one of the two trash QBs currently on the roster or a true freshman.

Iowa is tough in Iowa, not in Ann Arbor. If they had a some vaunted passing attack I'd give them some more respect, but their passing offense is garbage, and their best receiver is leaving.

The schedule next year is fine. OSU, MSU, and ND at home, and two byes. It's beautiful.

MSU is what I thought they'd be. I said before the year that we would beat all of Wisconsin, MSU, and PSU by double digits.

The "well Team X isn't actually what we thought they'd be" happens every year though. At least one opponent that you currently think is going to be a very tough opponent for us next year will not be.

On paper, next year's schedule is easier than this year's was. That being said, most preseason diagnosis of difficulty of schedule is largely pointless due to the amount of projection it takes, which I have always said.

It's 6 good teams, 3 of which could be elite. That's a tough schedule. Easier than last year? Who knows. Preseason Michigan's schedule was thought to be one of the toughest in the country. Was a little less than that because Sparty and Wiscy weren't 10 win teams, but still difficult.

Let's have OSU's 2018 slate of PSU and Michigan and nobody else before we say it's beautiful. Or Notre Dame's. Or Clemson's. Or Oklahoma's. Or West Virginia's.

Things seem pretty simple and generally good for UM. To beat the majority of the B1G all we need is a top 25 class every year. To beat Wiscy, MSU, and PSU we probably need a top 15ish class every year, although PSU is inching up in the rankings the past few years so that may be more like top 10ish for them. But, to beat OSU (assuming they continue to recruit at Meyer levels) we probably need a top 5ish class and that is what is eluding us. A top 10 class has proven with our current coaching and development strategies it is not enough to beat OSU under Meyer.

A top 10 class has proven with our current coaching and development strategies it is not enough to beat OSU under Meyer.

The answer isn't to magically get better recruiting classes. The answer is to improve coaching and development. You're not going to get top five classes every year to run a boring ball control offense where walk-ons are getting a remarkable number of snaps.

Michigan's talent is good enough to be competitive with anyone in the country. It wasn't a talent deficit that lead to the awful showing against OSU (and USC and FSU).

I'm not sure us fans are knowledgable enough to know this. I don't think it's as simple as OSU throws the ball a bunch making them more exciting.

Michigan's talent is good enough to be competitive with anyone in the country.

What makes you believe that? Bama, OSU, & UGA are the top 3 talented rosters based on recruiting rankings (I'll attach the link at the bottom). UM got blown out by OSU who is the most talented team in the country and lost a close game on the road to ND who is #10. The only real outliers in the top 20 are FSU and USC as underachievers based on their team talent. The average NC is in the top 4 in team talent.

I'm not saying coaching & development doesn't matter. It most certainly does. But, that's harder to analyze for fans. But, talent makes a big difference. Being the most talented team doesn't guarantee a playoff spot (OSU/UGA), but you can assume the more talented team will beat the less talented one the vast majority of the time.

This is what I've been trying to tell people. Yes, we lost a top 10 overall recruit to the Alafuckingbama and that hurts but lets not shy away from the fact that Harbaugh now has double digit wins in 3 of his first 4 years. the 1 year he did not reach that we were playing musical chairs with some very bad quarterbacks.

it wasn't that long ago that a double digit win season was a pipe dream, we had 1 in 7 years before Jimmy got here?. Be happy, folks.

(pet-peeve...far too often this comes with certain racial overtones...I believe it is generally unintended..but 'momma' is rarely used when talking about the Winovich's and Gentry's on this and other teams)

And to be clear, this is NOT a shot at you Dr....as it happens fairly regularly around here (and on Sports blogs) and each time I see it I wonder how the young men and their families feel about this.

Some members of this board believe we have only one avenue to be elite, which is to recruit nothing but 4 and 5 stars at every position. That may very well be true. Thus they will be inherently negative about EVERY three star recruit (regardless of outliers and reasons for such rankings - don't ever treat any of them as individuals - three stars=DEATH) and pessimistic we will win ANY battle for top guys because it fits their narrative. Every Dax Hill counts more than every 4 and 5 star win we get because...narrative. Again, I'm not saying they are even wrong but what a shitty existence to be pissed off and disappointed all the time. I thought hobbies like interest in college football were supposed to be fun? Also it's highly unlikely we reach that level of recruiting until we have sustained our current level of success and gotten some luck against OSU, so chicken and egg of misery here,and we'd probably have to get more comfortable with bagmen which we wont so.... {Shrug emoji}

I guess you're probably correct. Some people seem to think that we can't beat OSU until we have superior (or equal) talent at every spot on the field. That's clearly not going to happen for a variety of reasons.

The real focus should be on maximizing the great talent that we have (amazing WR recruits, 5 star QB, amazing center, etc). If you think of the coaches as a machine, they clearly have inputs of sufficiently high quality right now. They just need the output to match the quality of the input. They're close but that OSU game was... nowhere near good enough.

If you are defining the tiers by Alabama and the rest then you have a point. Otherwise, Michigan's 2019 class is good enough to keep them competing very well...with a chance to improve on the 10-win level. Michigan is going to have to step up their on-field performance though to break through and challenge Alabama in the recruiting world. Here, the best way to "infringe" on Alabama is to make headway in the trenches. This class holds real possibilities.

I am hoping for a finish that is something like Harrison, Keegan, Ike, Dawand Jones, DeLoach, Johnson, Sanguinetti and the Michigan "TE"-am forgetting his name.

You’re thinking of Darius Robinson. He’s announcing soon but I expect it will be to Missouri.

I think Georgia and OSU (at least under Meyer) could compete with Bama in recruiting. If USC got a competent coach they could too. Unfortunately even if Saban retires, I think we are looking a the start of a dominant stretch for Georgia. Smart is copying Sabans old offense and making it more aggressive and with better QB play. Not to mention that he is recruiting gangbusters in a very talent rich state in a very talent rich region.

Michigans goal should probably be to aim for top 5 classes and at worst be top 10.

You're correct. OSU, Georgia and Clemson, too are getting the athletes to make a serious run at Alabama.

And correct, furthermore, about USC...OMG...sitting as the king of the hill on all that California talent, reeling it in...and going nowhere!!! But as a Michigan fan, their ineptness is no consolation.

Bama has a WR in their class right now and their best-in-the-country WR corps is made up of two true sophomores and a true freshman, so they're actually not pushing hard here.

On Johnson's side, his dad went to Stanford, and mom to Michigan, and his top three has always been Stanford, Notre Dame, and Michigan. So, that should tell you what the kid is about. He hasn't even visited Bama.

I actually don't think Bama is even a player here - just a hat on the table.

This is spot on DrMT - you have good intel. Parents are very successful professionals from Greenwich CT and the Bama culture isn't going to be a good fit for them. Not sure why Stanford is out of the running, but it appears he did not get an official visit from them - maybe they are full at WR. Have my fingers crossed for his Dec 14 visit to go well. On 247, Cornelius is looking for the right fit from the players (current and recruits), coaches and student body. All of his options are high on academics so he can just concentrate on fit.

Wherever this kid lands, he really did a nice job on the recruiting trail. High character young man.

A GREAT family. Total fit at Michigan. I think the only reason it won't be Stanford is because they seem to think they are getting Elijah Higgins from Texas, and that is all they have room for at receiver.